Program 3 at 1:00 pm

MELTING STARS (Canada), 15 min
Kate Green*
This film unravels the mystery behind one of the most catastrophic species die-offs in recorded history — the sea star wasting syndrome that started in 2013. Find out why the sea stars have died, what factors led to the epidemic, and the effects of the die-off on intertidal ecosystems from Alaska to Mexico. —GC

Diver with netted fish from the film Blue. Credit: Alex Hofford

BLUE (Australia), 76 min
Karina Holden
This film charts the drastic decline in the health of our oceans. With more than half of all marine life lost and the increasing industrialization of our seas, we face challenges and opportunities for positive change that the film sets ou.
Filmed on location in Australia, Hawaii, the South Pacific, the Philippines and Indonesia, this film changes the way we think about our liquid world and inspires us to action. —AB

THE HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD WHALE (Canada), 15 min
Mark Leiren-Young*
“Granny,” the centenarian killer whale (orca) matriarch of Puget Sound, has survived capture, starvation, bullets and even toxic pollutants. She nurtured her descendants and shared her knowledge, gathered over a lifetime, with the remnants of her critically endangered Southern Resident family. They need salmon to live, but it is we who hold the key that will grant or deny them they healthy ocean they deserve. —MJS

Program 4 at 4:00 pm

NONOY AND THE SEA MONSTER (Austria), 5 min
Florian Kozák
When his parents talk of the sea monster that is wiping out the fish they need for survival, Nonoy, their young and imaginative son, creates a weapon whose magic powers will take care of the beast for good. Go get him, Nonoy! —SJPH

THE AMAZING LIFECYCLE OF THE EUROPEAN EEL (UK), 4 min
Sofia Castelló y Tickell
A delightful stop-motion animation featuring the European eel’s life cycle and unusal theories behind it. Did you know that the Romans kept them as pets and adorned them with jewelry? The oldest known European eel lived to be over 100 years old. Nowadays they swim to the Sargasso Sea to complete their life cycle. —AB

BON VOYAGE (Switzerland), 21 min
Marc Wilkins
A couple’s pleasant Mediterranean sailing trip is thrown into tension-filled turmoil by an encounter with refugees desperate to escape their violence-torn North African homelands. In just 20 minutes, this powerful film puts us in the middle of a moral quandary, not unlike some of our own that demand life and death choices. —SJPH

LIONFISH: NEW PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (Germany)
52 min Ulf Marquardt
The extraordinary lionfish, festooned with numerous and strange appendages, has long been a highlight for snorkelers and scuba divers in the Pacific Ocean where it has its place in the piscine pecking order. After it was thoughtlessly introduced into the Caribbean and the Atlantic, however, the lionfish took advantage of the lack of predators and its population skyrocketed. This is one fish you need have no compunction about eating. —KH

Program 5 at 7:00 pm

Surfing Program

CUBAN WAVE RIDERS (USA), 20 min
Liz Magee & Taylor McNulty*
“When I caught that first wave,” the Cuban surfer says, “it was . . . like medicine for the soul.” Any stoked surfer would say "amen" to that, but for this film’s Cuban surfers, locating that medicine often means long trips on bumpy roads and bruising walks across rocky beaches. Right now, there are only about 80 surfers in Cuba. More are welcome, the surfers say, “but not too many.” —SJPH

REEFS AT RISK (USA), 11 min
Malina Fagan
Something else to worry about: The health of reefs near Hawaii started to decline around 1985, about the same time the tourist industry in the islands exploded. Any connection? All those visitors are lathered in sunscreen that often includes the chemical oxybenzone, an endocrine disruptor, lethal to coral — and fish, and dolphins (and maybe you). Who knew? —KH

THE AGAVE GUN (USA), 10 min
Ross Haines
Legendary surfboard shaper Gary Linden continues to hone his skills even after 50 years into his career. His board materials include agave plants, the use of which requires masterful skills and a lot of patience. Alex Gray, a big wave surfer, inspires Gary to make an “agave gun” (big wave surfboard) and they go on a spiritual journey together. —YI

THE BIG WAVE PROJECT (Australia), 50 min
Tim Bonython
WEST COAST PREMIERE
If surfers are considered a tribe, then big wave surfers are tribal gods. For five years Australian filmmaker Tim Bonython follows legendary surfers to legendary breaks and some unknown gargantuan tow-in monsters. He tracks storms and swells across the planet to find and surf the gnarliest, most insurmountable mountains of ocean. Big gun surfers including Jamie Mitchell, Aaron Gold, Ryan Hipwood, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Billy Kemper, and Bay Area legend Mark Healey survive the impossible and develop a brotherhood of the Big Wave. —DM